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Malaysia ForumMalaysian Travel Forum to post about your Malaysia holiday, did you visit Penang or go on a tour of the Malaysia island of Langkawi, Malaysia has many tourism destinations including Johor Bahru, Malacca, Genting Highlands, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, or maybe you were just passing through on your way to Borneo, Brunei, Singapore or Thailand.

I had to go back to Blighty for most of March. Then it was my 40th birthday and people from the UK came to stay. Anyway after all of this Mrs Jardine decided it was time for a holiday and she fancied Malaysia. She had never been before but I was there about 18 years ago, as it happens just a couple of months after meeting Mrs Jardine.

We flew AirAsia from Chiang Mai which was on time. The only time in my last six flights that AirAsia had managed to keep to it's own time table. Mrs Jardine was on board this time and she is not a lady to be messed with so perhaps that's what did the trick. We arrived at KL's budget airline terminal and caught the bus into town.

We stayed down in Chinatown on Petaling Street, the Chinatown Inn. It was OK.

I am a wierd vegetarian sole but Chinatown could easily cope with my strange eating habits. This is a meal we had at the Formosa Cafe on the road parallel to our hotel's. Mock pork, Yam ring and stir fired potatoe tops.

On day one we went to the Petronas thingies and the shopping mall at there base.

They have fountains outside as well

Day 2 was a late start but we managed lunch at a Lebonise Restaurant in the Museum of Islamic Art.

From the Museum there was a good view of the National Mosque

I

If you walk up the hill ....

from here you get to the avery where the bird on the left bit Mrs Jardine.

I really liked Melaka it was just what we needed, somewhere interesting but not to busy. There were lots of nice places to eat, and you could stroll around it quite easily. An acquaintance from Chiang Mai moved down here to live a few years back. I didn't look him up but I can see why he came. It is a charming town near the sea.

This house looked like it would look great if you put a lot of time and effort into it.

Some of the streets had been done up possibly a little bit too far but it seemed very empty if they were looking to attract tourists. Perhaps they are after Singaporeans up for the weekend.

500 odd years ago a Chinese Princess married the Sultan of Melaka. She brought 2000 Chinese people with her. These were the original Straits Chinese or Baba Ngnongya or what ever you want to call them who intermarried with the Malays and have a culture distinct from both the Chinese and Malays. Back in the UK I used to work with a half Straits Chinese half Welsh girl. She was the bosses daughter.

Her family came from Melaka I have a feeling they lived on Herren Street. Which is where we stayed and where this building stands.

In Melaka and Pennang you can still see a lot of houses that are societies for communities from different parts of China. They are usually quite elaborate a lot look more like temples than clubs. Here's the door of one in Melaka.

Next came the Portuguese they also have a small community left over in Melaka. Then the Dutch who built the central square with a church and town hall or Stadthueys.

After the Dutch came the Brits and we gave it all back to the Malays 51 years ago. You'd think that after building them nice towns like Melaka and then just handing it over they would be terribly gratefull. However in the Museum inside this ship they sound very bitter about it all and not the least bit thankful. Well there is nothing as queer as folk as my mother used to say.

After Melaka we back tracked through KL and up to Pangkhor Island but more of that later.....

To get to Pangkor Island in Perak state you take a bus to Lumut. We arrived to late at night to cross over so we stayed a night in Lumut, not a bad little place if you have to stay there. We were in the Era Guest House close by the bus station. I wouldn't recommend it. They have blue trees at night in Lumut

We stayed at Telak Nipah on the West of the Island. The beaches look quite good I thought but the water leaves you with an oily feeling on your skin if you swim. There is a map of the place here pangkor

All the photos by the way were taken on my Iphone, I was quite pleased with the results.

Coral Bay

Telak Nipah

There is not a lot of booze around in Telak Nipah so it might not be to everyones taste but we had a good time just chilling on the beach, reading and watching the local Hornbills beg from the food stalls opposite our hotel.

Taking the bus mainly but also a trip by Taxi we ended up in Butterworth, which is the mainland port for the Island of Penang. A short ferry ride takes you to Georgetown by far the biggest town on Penang. There is a bridge but this looked the nicer way to travel.

We stayed on the edge of Chinatown in a great hotel called the Cathay Hotel. It's a 1930s style place with huge rooms. The aircon was a bit glacial though. The front and reception areas where old style Penang as well. Not too expensive either.

This place was just around the corner

Hope you can read this bit

and here is a Quan Yin Temple in the centre of Chinatown.

This temple is quite close to Little India so we headed to the Woodlands Restaurant for a Thali

Chiang Mai and Penang have a cricketing rivallry that goes back 80 years. Unfortuantely it has lapsed in recent years but hear is where the Penang Cricket Club used to play. Hopefully we can get the fixture going again. Maybe even at this ground although I doubt it. It's right in the heart of town next to the town hall and other civic buildings

On the other side of the old cricket pitch is the orginal fort built by the British. A chap called Light who's son went on to found Aderlaide.

After a few days relaxing at the Cathay Hotel and eating and drinking around Georgetown we got back on the ferry and caught the train back to Bangkok.